Mortage Rate Newsletter - Market Updates

Mortgage News Daily provides the most extensive and accurate coverage of the mortgage interest rate markets. Get daily updates on the primary mortgage market and how it is affecting interest rates. Stay connected and INFORMED!

After quite a bit of volatility and a move up to 7-year highs last week, mortgage rates have managed to avoid any semblance of drama so far this week. In fact, each of the past 2 days has seen the average lender keep 30yr fixed rates perfectly in-line with Friday's latest levels. The worst that could be said of these rates is that they're very close to last week's highs. The second worst thing that could be said of these rates is that they're the latest in a series of gradual moves higher over the past few years. The general expectation is that rates can continue to move higher as long as the economy continues to tolerate higher borrowing costs. Mortgage lenders know that we are now in a rising rate environment. That means they're less likely to offer huge improvements on rate sheets unless

Mortgage rates held steady today, which is better than what could be said for most of last week when rates shot up to the highest levels in 7 years. Friday was the only day of improvement, but it was scarcely enough to undo the damage from the previous 4 days. That said, it did raise questions. Specifically, was Friday some sort of indication that the worst was behind us in terms if upward rate momentum? Answering that question is tricky business because the time frame matters greatly. In the short term, there's always a possibility that a prevailing trend toward higher rates will cool-off and reverse course. While that's also technically possible over longer time horizons, we can begin to talk more about probabilities and less about random chance. With that in mind, we've be discussing the

Mortgage rates caught some small semblance of a break today. If it's not apparent based on that assessment in conjunction with the headline, the improvements certainly left something to be desired, even though that's to be expected, given the circumstances. Here's what I mean by that: Rates are based on the bond market. Trading levels in the bond market are back in line with (or slightly better than) Tuesday's levels. But mortgage rates are still higher than those seen on Tuesday. It's really that simple. Why is it to be expected? Mortgage rates aren't created automatically based on the bond market. The bond market is merely the primary input. Lenders use bond prices/levels as a baseline for determining rates. If the market has been more volatile, lenders are quicker to raise rates and slower